Atrial Fib??? help !

[distorted reality]

So, I've had a good few recovery weeks then a short relapse and now back to recovery. I've been doing really well up until last night. I had a new heart symptom that scared the bejesus out of me:

I'd just watched a movie and feeling good, I went to bed. As soon as i laid down my heart started beating really fast and irregular. Here's an example

b--b--b--b-----bbbbbbbb--------b----b----b--bbbbbbbbb-b-b-b-b

I always have the odd ectopic here and there but this was way different!! Any ideas?
I went to A&E after speaking to NHS direct. When I was eventually seen, 4 hours later, my heart had stablised and the ECG came out normal. I was told "anxiety". I got home around 7am and went back to bed but as soon as I laid down and brought my knees up, it started again... I was tired, not anxious!

Anyone else??

[pd]

Hello, I find at night time, when I'm in bed just before I fall asleep is the worst time for my heart to do funny things, even if I've been feeling good up until then. The four hours at A&E probably stressed you out, and you were probably still a bit anxious when you went back to bed, even if you didn't feel it 'on the surface'.

I hope you managed to get some sleep after that.

[distorted reality]

Thanks for your reply pd. The thing that concerns me is that when I'm anxious, I know my symptoms. That's how I've been dealing with it so well.

This rhythm is totally new and scary as hell! Anyone else get this?

[daniela]

HI, yes it does sounds like atrial fibrillation. Your heart is beating out of control. The heartbeat can reach higher that 200. Its very uncomfortable but its not serious. My mom gets it. Sometimes she goes back to her normal heartbeat in a day or so but sometimes it goes on for longer and in those cases she needs to go to the hospital to get some kind of medication to slow her heartbeat down. My mother does not suffer from anxiety but still gets it. Sometimes she will get 1 episode a year and sometimes 3 to 4.
Everytime I went to the hospital with my mom they said that its not serious but to make sure that the heart doesn't beat 150 for several days at the time.
Try not to worry.

Daniela

[distorted reality]

OK, After doing some research (I know, I know), It seems that people with Atrial Fibrillation tend to have episodes that last for hours or days. Mine seemed to last around 20 minutes but then left me with panic attacks. When I got back from the hospital, I had another 10/20 minutes attack. My doc's aren't worried but they haven't caught it on ecg or holter yet.

Has no one else had an irregular rhythm like this?

[mollymahoney]

my doctor says i have irregular heartbeats. it's not fatal, if you learn to live with it, though it medical intervention can be done.

unfortunately for me, it had caused me panic attacks. my heart feels like it's jumping from it's case. At times it feels bubbles emerging. I had only been diagnosed recently but I had remembered complaining of it when I was in my teens. I had the tests done, but unless your heart beats irregularly at the time of the test, it will not reflect on the result. Meaning, everything is normal unless it happens during the test. Recently I was asked to have a holter monitor and do/consume things that would trigger me. My mom, wanting to have a negative result kept me from triggering myself. I told my mom it's useless because we've already established I have irregular heartbeats...we just have to see the pattern in order to address it correctly. unfortunately my irregular heartbeats didn't manifest despite my median efforts.

[distorted reality]

Thanks Molly!

I have that too. It seems that whenever I'm at the doc's, A&E or have a holter monitor, my heart ALWAYS decides to behave! No one seems to be worried about it and I've been told to ignore it but I'm finding it impossible.
I'm also noticing more ectopics now and I'm afraid they'll start off an irregular pattern!! I've not left my house since my episode. Missed work, not had friends visit, Not seen anyone. I've just stayed home, scared of doing anything that may cause the rhythm - I daren't even move too suddenly!! I feel like a 90 year old :(

[mollymahoney]

I know how it feels. When I was still working (I haven't worked since my retrenchment...I was afraid of the incessant panic attacks and depression), I would get irregular heartbeats. I associated it with stress, that I felt how could a person possibly live normally with the constant threat of having irregular heartbeats and panic attacks? I thought before the diagnosis that I had HCM, or that every episode was a heart attack in progress. I feared working out for fear of passing out, or worse having a heart attack.

I've never been athletic growing up. I had asthma when I was 9, and my parents were very overprotective, never encouraging me to be active which is why now I am finding it hard to keep up with the pace of exercise, much less the lifestyle of normal working people.

[distorted reality]

Coincidence? I was diagnosed asthmatic at a young age. I still have rare bouts of breathlessness but it's difficult to tell whether its the anxiety or just plain old asthma. I rarely need to use my inhaler cos it usually subsides on its own.

I saw an asthma clinic last week. I told her about my ectopics and new irregular beats and she's booked me in for a spirometry test. She thinks I'm at high risk of COPD which is known to cause rhythm disturbances.

My dad died of emphysema at quite a young age (47). He chain smoked and worked in unventilated paint shops but I was told studies indicated there may be a hereditary susceptibility to it. I smoke way too much too and I wouldn't be surprised if it's caught up with me... I'm 28, smoked since I was 14.... - IDIOT!! :(

I really feel for you. I've not had mine for long but they are so distressing I know. I guess by retrenchment, you mean the UK equivalent of redundancy? My work offered me voluntary redundancy a few months ago. I'm thinking of accepting as I'm loosing money by not being at work. I'd literally be better off on benefits as things are!!!!